Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

VACCINE

Norway can’t ‘confirm nor exclude’ AstraZeneca jab connection after another health worker dies

A health worker in Norway has died of a brain haemorrhage after receiving the AstraZeneca anti-Covid vaccine, though no direct link to the jab has been established, health authorities said Monday.

Published: 15 March 2021 17:42 CET
Norway can't 'confirm nor exclude' AstraZeneca jab connection after another health worker dies
Photo: JOEL SAGET / AFP

This is the second such fatality within a few days in the Nordic country, which had suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution last Thursday. 

On Saturday, Norway’s health authorities said three health care employees had been hospitalised with blood clots, bleeding and abnormally low levels of platelets in the blood.

All of them were under 50, and all had received a first dose of the vaccine made by the Anglo-Swedish pharma group.

One of the three, described as a woman “in good health”, died on Sunday after a brain haemorrhage, health authorities said. She had been hospitalised on Thursday, about a week after getting the jab.

“We can neither confirm nor exclude that it has something to do with the vaccine,” an official from the Norwegian Medicines Agency, Steinar Madsen, told reporters.

The condition of the two others was reported to be stable.

Another health worker in her 30s also died on Friday in Norway, 10 days after receiving the same vaccine. Other deaths have also been reported in Europe, notably in Austria and Denmark.

The European Medicines Agency is currently investigating these deaths to see if there is a link to the vaccine.

On Friday, the World Health Organization said there was “no indication to not use” the vaccine, while the manufacturer itself insisted it was safe.

READ ALSO: Norway health official counters AstraZeneca over vaccine safety statement

According to Norwegian medical authorities, around 130,000 people had received the vaccine in Norway before it was suspended.

Among the other countries that have also suspended the vaccine for similar reasons are Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany.

The medicines agency in Denmark — the first country to suspend the use of the vaccine last Thursday after reporting a post-jab death — on Monday revealed that the victim was a 60-year-old woman who had suffered blood clots, low platelet levels and haemorrhages after receiving the vaccine. 

The agency said it had informed people who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past two weeks to look out for symptoms such as unusual bruising, bleeding, and severe headaches or stomach aches. 

About 150,000 people in Denmark have received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 583 two doses. 

READ ALSO: Which countries in Europe have suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

SHOW COMMENTS